Tired of staring longingly at iOS owners while your Android sits in your pocket, unable to play Ash? Well, stare longingly no longer! Konami have released Ash for Android devices and announced that the sequel, Ash 2: Shadows, is on its way.
Ash is a classic turn-based RPG that is perfect for bringing players back to the old school way of playing, back when patience and tactics was key. Ash is set in Aghaus, and with a beautiful soundtrack, intuitive interface and awesome story line (as is to be expected from any good RPG), this is certainly a game worth picking up. You play as two mercenaries on the fringes of Aghaus, which has been thrown into turmoil after the king’s death five years ago.
Ash 2: Shadows follows on from the storyline of the first game, with the same two mercenaries at the helm and brand new quests, mysteries and wonders to behold. With beautiful hand-drawn HD graphics, Ash 2 is a fantastic sequel to the first one and also warrants a play through.
Ash is available NOW for $1.99 on Android devices HERE, and Ash 2 will also be available for $1.99 soon.
Today marks the launch of the official event Carnival of Dreams in the Digimon MMORPG, Digimon Masters. The event will be taking place between now and the 20th of March, so make sure you jump online before the closing date to partake in the festivities!
The carnival will play host to many events, including magic acts that double earned experience points on weekdays. However, it seems that vile Digimon are teaming up to crash the carnival and players will need to defeat them to recover stolen jewellery.
The new event also marks a new server opening for players to play in, ‘Lilithmon’ and to celebrate this occasion, the developers have also included Lilithmon as a playable Ultimate within the game. Though Lilithmon isn’t the only new addition to the game, there are also a few new Mercenary Digieggs available for players to attain. From these eggs, players will receive: Deputymon, Kotemon[Musyamon] and Palmon[Woodmon], as well as for a limited time players will also receive an Amplification Booster bonus to the eggs.
And lastly, the most important thing (in my opinion) –
Log in each and every day for a special Carnival boost based on the amount of time played the previous day. Stay connected to receive the Coveted Gift Boxes, which contain the rarest celebratory goodies. Last but not least, dress for success with a free Rabbit Doll Costume! Once you’re suited up, take a screen shot with your friends for a chance to win unique avatars that show off their true Digimon Spirit. Entries can be posted on the official Digimon Masters forum until March 20th.
Be sure to check out the free-to-play game at it’s website.
Some screens for Bravely Default have been releases today, but the more intriguing news is that we now know who is actually developing the upcoming Nintendo 3DS RPG.
The initial and logical assumption was that Matrix, who were responsible for developing Final Fantasy III, Final Fantasy IV, and Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light for the Nintendo DS, were developing Bravery Default. It made sense since Bravely Default seems to share a very similar aesthetic with those titles, in particular Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light.
As it turns out, Matrix are not developing Bravely Default, as it is actually Silicon Studio who are developing the title. Gamers will remember Silicon Studio for their popular PlayStation 3 title, 3D Dot Game Heroes, which was a homage to the classic NES Zelda style of adventure RPG.
Hybrid is an upcoming shooter being developed exclusively for the Xbox Live Arcade by 5th Cell. The game will focus heavily on the online multiplayer component, and as such the team has announced that they will be holding Beta testing for it.
The sign up for this Beta testing will open shortly after the Game Developer’s Conference 2012, with the actual Beta testing to follow soon after. The purpose of the testing will be to test waters with what the developers like to call ‘the combat focused movement’.
More details on the Beta testing and how eligible players can sign up for this, will be revealed soon.
Sega have announced a new game: Hell Yeah!
No, that’s the name, not my sentiment for Sega announcing a new title.
Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit is a XBLA, PSN and PC download game from Sega and Arkedo Studio, and it’s not subtle about grabbing your attention. Like it or not, it’s the kind of game that forces you to acknowledge its existence.
Players take the role of a high-energy rabbit named Ash, who happens to be the prince of Hell for some reason. His rival, Fat Rabbit, has posted Ash’s sex photos all over the Hellnet, triggering a revenge-fuelled psychotic episode from Ash, who takes it upon himself to slaughter everything in his path to his nemesis.
Not much is known about the gameplay yet, except that it involves excessive violence and gore as you explore the depths of Hell to find Fat Rabbit. Come on, he rides a saw blade as transport!
It’s set for release some time this year, and with the tantalizingly few details we’ve got so far, this is one we’ll be keeping an eye on.
For now, check out the announcement trailer below.
Ye olde point-n-click adventure games may appear to be a long-dead genre, but look in the right places and you’ll find they’re not entirely extinct, they just suffer from widespread habitat loss.
The genre’s granddaddy, Tim Schafer, has shown the industry folk with his record-breaking Double Fine Adventure in development, that there is still a passionate audience for adventure games.
Pendulo Studios have been catering to that crowd for a while, releasing a few old-school-styled adventure games, like The Next Big Thing and Runaway, imbued with a light sense of humour and cartoony but detailed visuals. I got my hands on their new adventure, Yesterday (that’s the title, not when I played it), which keeps the mechanics and visual style the studio is known for, but takes the genre into a darker place.
Yesterday plays as you’d expect an adventure game to: you explore the environment by clicking on objects of interest, pick stuff up, combine items in your inventory, and use them in ways that normal people would never think to.
The puzzles in the section I played were challenging enough without being too ridiculous. Sure, there’s the usual suspension of disbelief required, but generally, your current objective and the method of achieving it are reasonably logical. If there’s something that you can’t figure out, chances are you aren’t supposed to use it or pick it up yet. The section I tried out was played through from two different perspectives, and things the first character couldn’t interact with, the other could.
There’s a hint option to get you through some of the genre’s notoriously obscure puzzles. Click the hint button once, and you’ll receive a vague indication of your next move. If that’s not enough, a second hint will be more specific.
If you feel like that’s cheating, a less direct help system is also included. Click a crosshair symbol in the toolbar and the objects in the area that you can interact with will be highlighted briefly. It doesn’t give away anything about how to use them, just lets you know that they can be examined, picked up or used in some way. I found myself using this feature a fair bit, as a mechanic rather than a “cheat” system. I don’t think it detracted from the game, although I could understand if purists choose to steer clear.
One section that might be a sticking point is a puzzle involving chess moves. The player is given a few options to how someone might achieve checkmate within one turn, but there are no consequences for failure: it simply says “that’s wrong”, and lets you choose again. If this is an indication of some of the “puzzles” throughout the game, it’ll be less an exercise in problem-solving and more about clicking your way down a list.
Overall, there isn’t a lot of deviation from standard adventure game mechanics, but for a genre that isn’t too prevalent in recent years, that’s fine, especially when done as well as this. What’s most important is the adventure that’s undertaken, and from my brief time with the game, Pendulo have weaved an intriguing tale.
Yesterday is named for the main character, John Yesterday, who wakes up with – ironically – no memory of yesterday. All he remembers is that he recently tried to commit suicide in Paris, he’s an expert in Satanism, and he’s been hired to investigate a religious sect’s involvement in a spate of murders of New York’s homeless population. A life like that you’d assume one would remember, but it’s clear the memory loss is due to powers beyond his control.
The preview section appears to take place years before the main part of the game: you play as a young Henry White, who goes on to hire Yesterday in the future (you know what I mean) to investigate the murders.
Henry and his hulking partner Cooper are volunteers for the Children of Don Quixote, a charity that offer support to the homeless. Their services have been in particularly high demand lately, since homeless people have been turning up brutally murdered. With no ID, and no families to identify the bodies, the crimes are going unresolved. The Children of Don Quixote are doing the best they can to offer protection before the homeless end up dead, and during a routine check-in on a derelict subway station known to be used as refuge, Henry and Cooper become caught up in the mystery.
The game aims to intrigue, and so far it’s working, giving me a small piece of the web that left me wanting to know more. I mean, I haven’t even met the main character yet! Story-wise, it’s set to satisfy.
The cel-shaded visuals might seem at odds with the darker tone, but it works. The characters are caricatured, with exaggerated facial features and expressions normally reserved for comedy. The comic-book-style cutscenes provide multiple windows into the action, allowing several key aspects of a scene to be displayed simultaneously.
But while the visuals are pretty cool, the sound seems to have been overlooked. I’m not sure if the version I played is the final one, but there were no voices at all: the characters speak only through text bubbles. Now, that might change before release, but if it doesn’t, it feels a bit lacking. Pendulo’s previous games have been praised for their voice acting, so its absence here is all the more jarring.
The sound effects weren’t anything too special either, and the music barely registers. It pops up at a few dramatic moments, but overall, it didn’t leave much of an impression on me. It’s the only part of the package that doesn’t deliver.
Not to end on a downer, but apart from the sound, Yesterday is shaping up to be a hearty, satisfying meal for the starved adventure game fan. Go wash your hands for dinner then, because Yesterday will be served up towards the end of March.
Lumines Electronic Symphony Developer: Q Entertainment Publisher: Ubisoft Platform: PlayStation Vita Release Date: February 22, 2012 Price: $39.99 (available here)
Overview
Lumines Electronic Symphony forms part of Ubisoft’s launch line up for the PlayStation Vita, and is approximately the sixth entry in Q Entertainment’s puzzle series (give or take a few ports and mobile offerings). It’s a nigh on perfect slice of handheld gaming that caters for just about every occasion and is beautifully presented to boot – if you own a Vita then you should have this game.
Gameplay
Lumines has at its heart the founding principle of all great puzzle games – a deceptively simple core mechanic. Two tone blocks fall from the top of the screen, and the player must rotate and place them to create squares of the same colour, thus clearing them from the screen. Blocks will only be cleared when passed over by the Time Line, so to create larger squares and build bigger scores good timing and strategic placement are essential.
If you’re new to the series then this may not seem like much, but Electronic Symphony will sneak into your brain and steal all of your time – it is ridiculously addictive and anything but simple. The seemingly basic strategy required to play quickly deepens when you discover the new Avatar abilities and special blocks. Each avatar in the game has two of ten special abilities, which are activated by tapping the Avatar and recharge over time. Amongst those abilities is the option to conjure a Chain block, one of two special blocks that can have a serious impact on your game.
Chain blocks will clear any squares of the same colour that they are directly attached to, so come in handy when you get into a bit of a tight spot. Shuffle blocks however, are a lot more chaotic in their impact. As the name implies, these lovelies will randomise every block on screen, instantly destroying your beautifully crafted arrangements. They can of course be an absolute lifesaver as well, so fitting them into your play strategies can seriously boost your scores.
Playing any of the game’s many modes will earn you XP, and levelling up unlocks new Avatars and stages. New Avatars bring with them new ability combinations, so the more you play the more strategies you’ll have at hand to conquer those bricks. Talking about strategy is all well and good, but the trick with Lumines is to be strategic and fast. As you play the game things become instinctive, and you find yourself almost subconsciously making moves that you would have had to think about just a few playthroughs ago. What seems like a few minutes can quickly become an hour as you sink into the game, utterly absorbed by the action on screen.
Controls are best handled by being old fashioned and sticking to buttons. There’s nothing technically wrong with the touch screen controls (tap to rotate, drag blocks down with a swipe etc) but when the action picks up there’s just no way that you can keep up – I found myself back with the face buttons without even realising it.
The main way that you’re intended to play Lumines is in Voyage mode, a continuous stream of blocks and stages that won’t stop until unmatched blocks fill the screen. Pass a stage and you’ll be gifted with a new skin – a set of music, blocks and background that can then be accessed in other modes of the game. If you’re up to the challenge then playthroughs of this can take up considerable time for a portable title, and it’s certainly the best way to improve your skills.
If you’re looking for a shorter session, then Lumines comes packed with plenty of options. There are 30, 60, 180 and 300 second bursts of block matching available, so whether you’re settling in for a marathon session or just jumping in for a minute or two, Electronic Symphony has you covered. Playlist mode is a fantastic addition that lets you build and save your own playlist of skins, so not only can sessions be as short or long as you want, but you get to pick the tunes as well.
Multiplayer manifests in Duel mode, which throws you into ad hoc only match ups. Players compete to push each other off the screen and the mode gives you access to the Duel only Avatar abilities for some extra chaos. Unfortunately both players must have a copy of the game. Online multiplayer is tragically missing, and this is the one thing that holds the game back from being the perfect Lumines experience. Without it there is nothing unique about the Vita version of the game – if you’ve played Lumines before then there perhaps isn’t enough to attract you to this version.
For the hardcore Lumines player there is Master mode, a series of five challenges that are insanely fast and tricky. Each stage must be survived in order to unlock the next, so newbie players shouldn’t expect to be seeing stage five anytime soon.
Lumines Electronic Symphony is about as comprehensive as it can be with its selection of game modes. Other than online multiplayer, every experience you could want from the game is on offer here, with each score in each mode meticulously recorded into the leaderboards. Getting fed up is simply not an option – new content constantly unlocks and you can see yourself getting better with every round. Addictive, easy to learn, difficult to master, whatever clichéd praise you throw at it, Lumines Electronic Symphony is simply a must have for the Vita.
Audio & Visual
One of the main things that makes Electronic Symphony so creepingly addictive is the amazing integration of the presentation with the gameplay. Every move you make on screen is blended into the music with a beat, giving your actions impact on both the audio and visual output of the game. There’s something about this and the vivid colours, the dynamic backgrounds and generally awesome music that combine to encase your brain in a wonderful cloud of utter distraction. To add to that there is a great selection of 41 skins featuring musicians such as the Chemical Brothers, Pet Shop Boys and LCD Soundsystem. Electronic Symphony couldn’t look or sound any better – if it did it would probably make your brain explode.
Overall
The only major issue here is the lack of online multiplayer. Everything else in Lumines Electronic Symphony is incredibly strong. The wide range of modes makes it amazingly accessible, and the learning curve is perfectly pitched to lure you into chasing those high scores. The presentation is fantastic and playing along to The Chemical Brothers’ ‘Hey Boy, Hey Girl’ is a slice of gaming gold.
The Game of Thrones RPG is creeping ever closer, with the game coming to the world just a month after the April 1 beginning of the HBO TV shows highly anticipated second season. Given that the game follows the adventures of two new characters, it makes sense that there are a couple of entirely new locations too, towns and villages which have somehow managed to go unmentioned in the course of six highly detailed novels…
That aside these screenshots recently released showcase the new location of Castlewood, home to the House Harlton. A supporter of the Targaryens during the rebellion of Robert Baratheon, the head of the family was executed by the victorious rebel king, leaving a brother conveniently loyal to Baratheon in his stead. One of the two playable characters has strong ties with the Harlton family, and Alester Sarwyck will use Castlewood as a safe haven in the course of his quest.
That said, the screenshots show plenty of less than friendly action from the Harlton’s. there’s torture afoot, sword fights in bedrooms, and Red Priest Alester Sardwyck is probably not having a playfight with those green clad Harlton soldiers. So has someone taken over the family home? Or have the Harlton’s decided that their loyalties lie elsewhere? And who owns that curiously textured snub nosed dog?
After a fairly disastrous entry into the gaming universe with Game of Thrones Genesis, fingers everywhere are firmly crossed in the hope of this RPG hitting the mark. The release date still remains a bit vague, but Song of Ice and Fire fans will discover for themselves the quality of the game come May 2012.
SGP, makers of the infamous Steinheil screen protectors, has released their latest offering. The Modello series of cases are modern looking TPU cases with a matte finish. Glossy geometric designs are etched onto the case to look great and provide extra grip. The case is currently available in two colors and two patterns with a total of six colors and two patterns slated for release. Soul Black is a black case with small crosses and Tangerine Tango is a catchy orange with lines of different depths on the back. These cases are made in Korea and are available at the SGP Store for $14.99 USD.
Konami have released details for the latest free DLC, the Winter Data Pack, which will be available on March 6th for PlayStation, Xbox 360 and Windows PC.
The download will bring all the teams up to date, including the January transfer window changes. The update will also include new kits for the Spanish, German and Japanese national sides and also adds in eight new boot styles from Adidas and Nike, as well as the Adidas Finale Munich ball which will be used in this year’s UEFA Champions League final.
You can download the Winter Data Pack on March 6th through the Xbox Live marketplace, PlayStation Network and online for Windows for each respective platform.
Tired of staring longingly at iOS owners while your Android sits in your pocket, unable to play Ash? Well, stare longingly no longer! Konami have released Ash for Android devices and announced that the sequel, Ash 2: Shadows, is on its way.
